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Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Make in India gets new wings

The
government’s decision to insist that the Indian Air Force induct a large
number of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) fighters is the kind of shock
treatment that was needed to push the ‘Make in India’ project. A
news report says that the government has rejected the IAF’s demand for
44 more Rafale aircraft, in addition to the deal for 36 announced by the
government earlier this year. Instead, the IAF has been told that the kind of numbers it wanted could only be met by inducting the LCA.

The IAF has
itself to blame for its predicament. The medium multi-role combat
aircraft (MMRCA) was originally intended to be a stop-gap measure to
enable the LCA project to be completed. However, the IAF rigged the
competition by including the heavier, more` capable two-engine fighters
and knocking out the best option, the Swedish Gripen.

As
a result, a competition for a $8 billion stop-gap fighter morphed into a
huge buy involving 126 Rafales which would have cost the nation
anywhere between $25-30 billion.

Requirements

Critics
cite a C&AG report of May 2015 claiming that the aircraft had 53
shortcomings in respect of the IAF’s requirements such as an integral
self-protection jammer and a radar warning receiver. They also noted
that the aircraft weighed more than it should and had a lower internal
fuel capacity.

But
K Tamilmani, the DRDO’s aerospace chief, has, more recently, said that
the modified version of the LCA addressed most of the air force’s
concerns relating to electronic warfare systems, flight computer, radar
and maintenance problems.

In
pushing the LCA in the IAF’s face, the government has dealt with one of
the two big problems faced by the project - the IAF's refusal to take
ownership of the LCA.

In
contrast, the Indian Navy has ‘owned’ the LCA-Navy project and has
worked with the DRDO to tweak the aircraft to meet its requirements.

Some
of these modifications — a stronger undercarriage and Levcons to
provide it greater agility — will figure in the aircraft that will now
be made for the IAF. It needs to be noted that the LCA, which will be
used for close air support or countercounter air missions, will not need
the kind of sophisticated electronics that an aircraft designed to
operate deep in enemy territory needs.

Third
party assessments are that the LCA is a capable fighter, better than
its counterparts like the Sino-Pak JF-17. Its use of composites which
cover 90 per cent of its surface provides it natural stealth. Its design
makes it highly stable and easy to fly, a fact attested to by Ruag
specialists who wanted to market a tandem-seat version as a lead-in
fighter trainer (LIFT).

Manufacturing

But
the government still needs to deal with the second big problem -
getting the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to deal with the
project with the seriousness it deserves.

As
the C&AG report noted, the manufacturing facilities at HAL
currently cater to the production of only four aircraft per year, as
against the eight needed, because of delays in procuring plant and
machinery, tools and the construction of production hangars.

Likewise,
repair and overhaul (ROH) facility for LCA, as specified in the ASR,
has not been fully created. HAL, which makes a great deal of money
through licence-producing aircraft like the Su- 30MKI, for which it
charges the government Rs 100 crore more than the cost for an
off-the-shelf item from Russia, couldn’t be bothered with the need to
encourage an Indian project.

Indeed,
some years back, the Swiss-German giant Ruag wrote to HAL offering its
expertise in setting up assembly lines to manufacture the LCA and
offering an industrial partnership to sell the aircraft abroad. But HAL
did not even have the courtesy to reply.

This
would be a good time for the government to look into the IAF’s claim
that it needs at least 45 squadrons to take on the ‘two-front collusive
threat’ from Pakistan and China. As of now, says the IAF, it only has 35
active fighter squadrons, and even this could go down to 32.

There
are two issues here - the nature of war of the future. Given the fact
that India, Pakistan and China are nuclear-armed states, the chances of
any kind of an all-out war are low. At worst, we may see localised
clashes such as the Kargil mini-war.

Capabilities

But
this is not something which the IAF can decide, it requires the
government to make an overall strategy assessment and then pinning down
the kind of capabilities India’s armed forces need.

This
will enable a planned acquisition of capabilities, instead of the
present chaos which has led to the fiasco of the Rafale buy and the
decision to halve the size of the mountain strike corps.